An old man promised his old friend that he would leave a big part of his fortune to him. He wrote the will and gave it to his lawyer.
One day however, he changed his mind and wrote another will that says that he will leave all his fortune to an old lady friend. However a fire broke out consuming the old man and the will.
So the friend who was first promised the fortune got it.
The question: DID THE OLD MAN KEEP HIS PROMISE TO HIS FRIEND?
or did he break it the moment he wrote the other will?
2007-08-29 19:07:46 · 9 answers · asked by Aken 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
The man's mind says he broke his promise to his friend the moment he thought to change the will.
However, the friend did not know that the man changed the will, in fact (assumption) no-one knew he had changed the will and thus in the friend's mind, the man kept his promise.
The old question: if a tree falls in a forest and no-one is around to hear it fall, does it make a sound?
If there is no knowledge of the changed will, there is no evidence/no proof so it would seem that ultimately, the promise was, while broken, executed/carried out. :)
2007-08-29 19:58:55 · answer #1 · answered by deedee 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes the old man broke his promise the moment he wrote the other will.
One thing i am confused about your question is this. In reality could the old man have written the second will without first destroying the first will. There seems to be an overlap here with no clarification from the old man. Is this legally possible?
2007-08-30 04:20:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He broke the promise as soon as he changed his mind and wrote another will that says that he will leave all his fortune to an old lady friend.
2007-08-30 02:23:57 · answer #3 · answered by Chi K 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well alot of this is going to have to do with the way the riddle is worded. The promise was not that the old man would "give" him the money but that he would "leave" him the money. "leaving" is a special term in our culture which indicates "reserving for" within ones last will and testament . Where does this incident take place? Law varies from place to place. If it had to be notarized and it wasn't then he did keep his word. If it did not have to be notarized, only wittnessed by two people then we would have to know whether or not this happened. My final answer then is that there is insufficient information.
2007-08-30 02:19:14 · answer #4 · answered by stark z 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People are fickle, and fickle people also write wills.
The old man broke his promise to his old friend, yes , no question about that.
My guess is that the old man ihad a change of heart, figured his old friend was really not worthy, or decided that this old lady was more deserving of his money.
These things happen with progressive aging, where the elderly get senile dementia, becomes delusional and paranoid etc.
2007-08-30 02:23:10 · answer #5 · answered by QuiteNewHere 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No Problem.
The fire prevented the old man from breaking his promise.
Intent is ethereal, action is real.
2007-08-30 02:22:47 · answer #6 · answered by Phoenix Quill 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes.
2007-08-30 06:23:00 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Technically he broke it - but he didn't live to talk about it. Pax-C
2007-08-30 02:10:55 · answer #8 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the answer is in your last sentence...
2007-08-30 02:32:41 · answer #9 · answered by Urban Hermit 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋